It
is not so in the Divine Idea, amH^shaJLnQtjjpntinue so in
the visible world.
is not so in the Divine Idea, amH^shaJLnQtjjpntinue so in
the visible world.
Fichte - Nature of the Scholar
net/2027/wu.
89090378035 Public Domain, Google-digitized / http://www.
hathitrust.
org/access_use#pd-google
? GENERAL PLAN. H3
day enter, until he shall have acquired power sufficient to
stem the tide of its example.
This, gentlemen, is the entire plan of the lectures which I
now propose to deliver, with the principles on which they
shall be founded. To-day, I shall only add one or two ob-
servations to what I have already said.
In considerations like those of to-day, or those, necessarily
similar in their nature, which are to follow, it is common for
men to censure,--first, their severity,--very often with the
good-natured supposition that the speaker was not aware
that his strictness would be disagreeable to them,--that
they have only frankly to tell him this, and he will then re-
consider the matter, and soften down his principles. Thus
we have said, that he who with his Learned Culture has not
attained a knowledge of the Idea, or does not at least
struggle to attain it, is properly speaking, nothing;--and
farther on, we have said he is a bungler. This is in the man-
ner of those severe sayings by which philosophers give so
much offence. Leaving the present case, to deal directly with
the general principle, I have to remind you that a thinker
of this sort, without having firmness enough to refuse all re-
spect to Truth, seeks to chaffer with her and cheapen some-
thing from her, in order by a favourable bargain to obtain
some consideration for himself. But Truth, who is once for
all what she is, and cannot change her nature in aught, pro-
ceeds on her way without turning aside; and there remains
nothing for her, with respect to those who do not seek her
simply because she is true, but to leave them standing
there, just as if they had never accosted her.
Again, it is a common charge against discourses of this
kind, that they cannot be understood. Thus I can suppose
--not you, gentlemen,--but some Finished Scholar according
to appearance, under whose eye, perhaps, these thoughts may
come--approaching them, and, puzzled and doubtful, at last
thoughtfully exclaiming :--The Idea--the Divine Idea,--
that which lies at the bottom of all appearance,--what may
this mean? I would reply to such an inquirer,--What then
may this question mean ? --Strictly speaking, it means in
U
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? 146
THE NATURE OF THE SCHOLAR.
most cases, nothing more than the following:--Under what
other name, and by what other formula, do I already know
this thing which thou expressest by a name so extraordi-
nary, and to me so unheard of? --and to that again, in most
cases, the only fitting answer would be,--Thou knowest not
this thing at all, and during thy whole life hast understood
nothing of it, neither under this nor under any other name;
and if thou art to come to any knowledge of it, thou must
even now begin anew to learn it, and then most fitly under
that name by which it is first offered to thee.
In the following lectures the word Idea, which I have used
to-day, will be in many respects better defined and ex-
plained, and, as I hope, ultimately brought to perfect clear-
ness; but that is by no means the business of a single hour.
We reserve this, as well as everything else to which we have
to direct your attention, for the succeeding lectures.
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? 147
LECTURE II.
CLOSER DEFINITION OP THE MEANING OF
THE DIVINE IDEA.
The following were the principles which we laid down in
our last lecture as the grounds of our investigation into the
Nature of the Scholar.
The Universe is not, in deed and truth, that which it
seems to be to the uncultivated and natural sense of man;
but it is something higher, which lies behind mere natural
appearance. In its widest sense, this foundation of all ap-
pearance may be aptly named the Divine Idea of the world.
A certain part of the meaning of this Divine Idea is acces-
sible to, and conceivable by, the cultivated mind.
We said at the close of last lecture, that this as yet ob-
scure conception of a Divine Idea, as the ultimate and abso-
lute foundation of all appearance, should afterwards become
quite clear and intelligible by means of its subsequent ap-
pli cations.
Nevertheless we find it desirable, in the first place, to de-
fine this conception more closely in the abstract, and to this
purpose we shall devote the present lecture. To'Mthis end
we lay down the following principles, which, so far as we are
concerned, are the results of deep and methodical investiga-
tion and are perfectly demonstrable in themselves, but
which we can here communicate to you only historically, cal-
culating with confidence on your own natural sense of truth
to confirm our principles even without perfect insight into
their fundamental basis; and also on your observing that by
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? H8
THE NATURE OF THE SCHOLAR.
principles thus laid down the most important questions are
answered and the most searching doubts solved.
We lay down, then, the following principles:--
1. Being, strictly and absolutely considered, is living and
essentially active. There is no other Being than Life;--it
cannot be dead, rigid, inert . What death, that constantly
recurring phenomenon, really is, and how it is connected
with the only true Being--with Life,--we shall see more
clearly afterwards.
2. The only Life which exists entirely in itself, from itself,
and by itself, is the Life of God, or of the Absolute;--which
two words mean one and the same thing; so that when we
say the Life of the Absolute, we use only a form of expres-
sion, since in truth the Absolute is Life, and Life is the Ab-
solute.
3. This Divine Life lies entirely hidden in itself;--it has
its residence within itself, and abides there completely
realized in, and accessible only to, itself. It is--all Being,
and beside it there is no Being. It is therefore wholly with-
out change or variation.
4. Now this Divine Life discloses itself, appears, becomes
visible, manifests itself as such--as the Divine Life: and
this its Manifestation, presence, or outward existence, is the
World. Strictly speaking, it manifests itself as it essenti-
ally and really is, and cannot manifest itself otherwise; and
hence there is no groundless and arbitrary medium inter-
posed between its true and essential nature and its outward
Manifestation, in consequence of which it is only in part re-
vealed and in part remains concealed; but its Manifestation,
i. e. the World, is fashioned and unchangeably determined by
two conditions only; namely, by the essential nature of the
Divine Life itself, and by the unvarying and absolute laws of its revelation or Manifestation abstractly considered.
God reveals himself as God can reveal himself: His whole,
in itself essentially inconceivable, Being comes forth entire
and undivided, in so far as it can come forth in any mere
Manifestation.
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? DEFINITION OF THE DIVINE IDEA.
149
5. The Divine Life in itself is absolute self-comprehend-
ing unity, without change or variableness, as we said above.
In its Manifestation, for a reason which is quite conceivable although not here set forth, it becomes a self-developing existence, eternally unfolding itself, and ever advancing to-
wards higher realization in an endless stream of time. In
the first place, it continues in this Manifestation, as we said,
to be life. Life cannot be manifested in death, for these
two are altogether opposed to each other; and hence, as
Absolute Being alone is life, so the only true Manifestation
of that Being is living existence, and death has neither an
absolute, nor, in the highest sense of the word, has it even a
relative existence. This living and visible Manifestation we call the human race. The human race is thus the only true
finite existence. As Being--Absolute Being--constitutes
the Divine Life, and is wholly exhausted therein, so does
Existence in Time, or the Manifestation of that Divine Life,
constitute the whole united life of mankind, and is tho-
roughly and entirely exhausted therein. Thus, in its Mani-
festation the Divine Life becomes a continually progressive
existence, unfolding in perpetual growth according to the
degree of inward activity and power which belongs to it.
Hence,--and the consequence is an important one,--hence
the Manifestation of Life in Time, unlike the Divine Life,
is limited at every point of its existence,--t. e. it is in part
not living, not yet interpenetrated by life, but in so far--
dead. These limitations it shall gradually break through,
lay aside, and transform into life, in its onward progress.
In this view of the limitations which surround Existence
in Time, we have, when it is thoroughly laid hold of, the
conception of the objective and material world, or what we
call Nature. This is not living and capable of infinite
growth like Reason; but dead,--a rigid, self-inclosed exis-
tence. It is this which, arresting and hemming in the
Time-Life, by this hindrance alone spreads over a longer or
shorter period of time that which would otherwise burst
forth at once, a perfect and complete life. Further, in the
development of spiritual existence, Nature itself is gradually
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? 150
THE NATURE OF THE SCHOLAR.
interpenetrated by life; and it is thus both the obstacle to,
and the sphere of, that activity and outward manifestation
of power in which human life eternally unfolds itself.
This, and absolutely nothing more than this, is Nature in
the most extended meaning of the word; and even man
himself, in so far as his existence is limited in comparison
with the original and Divine Life, is nothing more than this.
Since the perpetual advancement of this second life,--not
original, but derived and human,--and also its finitude and
limitation in order that such advancement may be so much
as possible,--both proceed from the self-manifestation of the
Absolute, so Nature also has its foundation in God,--not
indeed as something that is and ought to be for its own
sake alone, but only as the means and condition of another
being,--of the Living Being in man,--and as^something
which shall be gradually and unceasingly superseded and
displaced by the perpetual advancement of this being.
Hence we must not be blinded or led astray by a philo-
sophy assuming the name of natural* which pretends to ex-
cel all former philosophy by striving to elevate Nature into
Absolute Being, and into the place of God In all ages, the
theoretical errors as well as the moral corruptions of hu-
manity have arisen from falsely bestowing the name of life
on that which in itself possesses neither absolute nor even
finite being, and seeking for life and its enjoyment in that
which in itself is dead. Very far therefore from being a
step towards truth, that philosophy is but a return to old
and already most widely spread error.
6. All truth contained in the principles which we have
now laid down may be perceived by man, who himself is the
Manifestation of the Original and Divine Life, in its general
aspect, as we for example, have now perceived it,--either
through rational conviction, or only from being led to it by
an obscure feeling or sense of truth, or from finding it prob-
able because it furnishes a complete solution of the most
important problems. Man may perceive it; that is, the
* Schelling's " Natur-Philosophie" is here referred to.
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? DEFINITION OF THE DIVINE IDEA. . 151
Manifestation may fall back on its Original, and picture it
forth in reflection with absolute certainty as to the fact;
but it can by no means analyze and comprehend it fully, for
the Manifestation ever remains only a Manifestation, and
can never go beyond itself and return to Absolute Being.
7. We have said that man may perceive this in so far as
regards the fact, but he cannot perceive the reason and
origin of the fact. How and why from the Divine Life, this
and no other Time-Life arises and constantly flows forth, can be understood by man only on condition of fully com-
prehending all the parts of this latter, and interpreting
them all, one by the other, mutually and completely, so as to
reduce them once more to a single idea, and that idea equi-
valent to the one Divine Life. But this forth-flowing Time-
TSfe is infinite, and hence the comprehension of its parts
can never be completed: besides, the comprehender is him-
self a portion of it, and at every conceivable point of time
he himself stands chained in the finite and limited, which
he can never entirely throw off without ceasing to be Mani-
festation,--without being himself transformed into the
Divine Life.
8. From this it seems to follow, that the Time-Life can be
comprehended by thought only as a whole, and according to
its general nature,--i. e. as we have endeavoured to compre-
hend it above,--and then as a Manifestation of the one
Original and Divine Life;--but that its details must be im-
mediately felt and experienced in their individual import,
and can only by and through this Experience be imaged
forth in thought and consciousness. And such is actually
the case in a certain respect and with a certain portion of
human life. Throughout all time, and in every individual
part of it, there remains in human life something which i'does not entirely reveal itself in Idea, and which therefore
cannot be anticipated or superseded by any Idea, but which
must be directly felt if it is ever to attain a place in con-
sciousness ;--and this is called the domain of pure empiri-
cism or Experience. The above-mentioned philosophy ens
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? 152
THE NATURE OF THE SCHOLAR.
in this,--that it pretends to have resolved human life en-
tirely into Idea, and thus wholly superseded Experience;
instead of which, it defeats its own purpose, and in attempt-
ing to explain life completely, loses sight of it altogether.
9. I said that such was the case with the Time-Life in a
certain respect and with a certain portion of it. For in
another respect and with another portion of it, the case is
quite otherwise,--and that on the following ground, which I
shall here only indicate in popular phraseology, but which is
well worthy of deeper investigation.
The Time-Life does not enter into Time in individual
parts only, but also in entire homogeneous masses; and it is
these masses, again, which divide themselves into the indivi-
dual parts of actual life. There is not only Time, but there
are times, and succession of times, epoch after epoch, and
age succeeding age. Thus, for example, to the deeper
thought of man, the entire Earthly Life of the human race,
as it now exists, is such a homogeneous mass, projected at
once into Time, and ever present there, whole and undivid-
ed,--only as regards sensuous appearance spread out into
world-history. When these homogeneous masses have ap-
peared in Time, the general laws and rules by which they
are governed may be comprehended, and, in their relation
to the whole course of these masses, anticipated and under-
stood; while the obstacles over which these masses must
take their way--that is, the hindrances and interruptions
of life--are only accessible to immediate Experience.
10. These cognizable laws of homogeneous masses of Life,
which may be perceived and understood prior to their ac-
tual consequences, must necessarily appear as laws of Life
itself, as it ought to be, and as it should strive to become,
founded on the self-supporting and independent principle of
this Time-Life, which must here appear as Freedom:--
hence, as laws for the free action and conduct of the living be-
ing. If we go back to the source of this legislation, we shall
find that it lies in the Divine Life itself, which could not
reveal itself in Time otherwise than under this form of a
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? DEFINITION OP THE DIVINE IDEA.
153
law; and, indeed, as is implied in the preceding ideas, no-
wise as a law ruling with blind power and extorting obedi-
ence by force, such as we assume in passive and inanimate
nature,--but as the law of a Life which is conscious of its
own independence, and cannot be deprived of it, without at
the same time tearing up the very root of its being; hence,
as we said above, as a Divine Law of Freedom, or Moral Law.
Further, as we have already seen, this life according to
the law of the original Divine Life, is the only True Life and
ground of all other;--all things else besides this Life are
but hindrances and obstructions thereto, possessing exist-
ence only that by them the True Life may be unfolded and
manifested in its strength:--hence, all things else have no
existence for their own sakes, but only as means for the de-
velopment of the True Life. Reason can comprehend the
connexion between means and end only by supposing a
mind in which the end has been determined. A thoroughly
moral Human Life has its source in God: by analogy with
our own reason, we conceive of God as proposing to himself
the moral Life of man as the sole purpose for which He has
manifested himself and called into existence every other
thing; not that it is absolutely thus as we conceive of it,
and that God really thinks like man, and that Being itself is
in him distinguished from the conception of Being,--but we
think thus only because we are unable otherwise to com-
prehend the relation between the Divine and the Human
Life. And in this absolutely necessary mode of thought, Human Life as it ought to be becomes the idea and funda-
mental conception of God in the creation of a world,--the
purpose and the plan which God intended to fulfil by the
creation of the world.
And thus it is sufficiently explained for our present pur-
pose how the Divine Idea lies at the foundation of the vis-
ible world, and how, and how far, this Idea, hidden from the
common eye, may become conceivable and attainable by
cultivated thought, and necessarily appear to it as that
which man by his free activity ought to manifest in the
world.
x
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? 154
THE NATURE OF THE SCHOLAR.
Let us not forthwith restrict our conception of this ought,
--this free act of man, to the familiar categorical impera-
tive, and to the narrow and paltry applications of it which
are given in our common systems of Morality,--such ap-
plications as must necessarily be made by such a science.
Almost invariably, and that for causes well founded in the
laws of philosophical abstraction through which systems of
Morality are produced, it has been usual to dwell at great-
est length on the mere^orwj of Morality,--to inculcate sim-
ply and solely obedience to the commandment;--and even
when our moralists have proceeded to its substance, still
their chief aim seems to have been rather to induce men to
cease from doing evil, than to persuade them to do good.
Indeed, in any system of human duties, it is necessary to
maintain such a generality of expression that the rules may
be equally applicable to all men, and for this reason to
point out more clearly what man ought not to do, than
what he ought to do. This, too, is the Divine Idea,--but
only in its remote and borrowed shape--not in its fresh ori-
ginality, original Divine Idea of any particular point
of time remains for the most part unexpressed, until the
God-inspired man appears and declares it. What the
Divine Man does, that is divine. In general, the original
and pure Divine Idea--that which he who is immediately
inspired of God should do and actually does--is (with refer-
ence to the visible world) creative, producing the new, the
unheard-of, the original. The impulse of mere natural exis-
tence leads us to abide in the old, and even when the
Divine Idea is associated with it, it aims at the maintenance
of whatever has hitherto seemed good, or at most to petty
improvements upon it; but where the Divine Idea attains
an existence pure from the admixture of natural impulse,
there it builds new worlds upon the ruins of the old. All
things new, great, and beautiful, which have appeared in the
world since its beginning, and those which shall appear un-
til its end, have appeared and shall appear through the
Divine Idea, partially expressed in the chosen ones of our
race/)
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? DEFINITION OF THE DIVINE IDEA. 155
And thus, as the Life of Man is the only immediate im-
plement and organ of the Divine Idea in the visible world,
so is it also the first and immediate object of its activity.
The progressive Culture of the human race is the object of
the Divine Idea, and of those in whom that Idea dwells.
This last view makes it possible for us to separate the
Divine Idea into its various modes of action, or to conceive
of the one indivisible Idea as several.
First,--In the actual world, the Life of Man, which is in
truth essentially one and indivisble, is divided into the life
of many proximate individuals, each of whom possesses free-
dom and independence. This division of the one Living Existence is an arrangement of nature, and hence is a hin-
drance or obstruction to the True Life,--and exists only in
order that through it, and in conflict with it, that unity of
Life which is demanded by the Divine Idea may freely
fashion itself. Human Life has been divided by nature into
many parts, in order that it may form itself to unity, and
that all the separate individuals who compose it may
through Life itself blend themselves together into oneness
of mind. In the original state of nature, the various wills
of these individuals, and the different powers which they
call into play, mutually oppose and hinder each other.
It
is not so in the Divine Idea, amH^shaJLnQtjjpntinue so in
the visible world. The first interposing power (not found-
~e3in nature, but subsequently introduced into the world
by a new creation) on which this strife of individual powers
must break and expend itself until it shall entirely disap-
pear in a general morality, is the founding of States, and of
just relations between them; in short, all those institutions
by which individual powers, single or united, have each
their proper sphere assigned to them, to which they are confined, but in which at the same time they are secured
against all foreign aggression. This institution lay in the
Divine Idea; it was introduced into the world by inspired
men in their efforts for the realization of the Divine Idea;
by these efforts it will be maintained in the world, and con-
stantly improved until it attain perfection.
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? 156
THE NATURE OF THE SCHOLAR
Secondly,--This Race of Man, thus raising itself through
internal strife to internal unity, is surrounded by an inert
and passive Nature, by which its free life is constantly hin-
dered, threatened, and confined. So it must be, in order that
this Life may attain such unity by its]own free effort; and
thus, according to the Divine Idea, must thisTstrength and
independence of the sensual life, progressively and gradual-
ly unfold itself. To that end it is necessary that the powers
of Nature be subjected to human purpose, and (in order that
this subjection may be possible) that man should be ac-
quainted with the laws by which these powers act, and be
able to calculate beforehand the course of their operations.
Moreover, Nature is not designed merely to be useful and
profitable to man, but also to become his fitting companion,
bearing the impress of his higher dignity, and reflecting it
in radiant characters on every side. This dominion over
Nature lies in the Divine Idea, and is ceaselessly extended
by the power of that Idea through the agency of all in
whom it dwells.
Lastly,--Man is not placed in the world of sense alone,
but the essential root of his being is, as we have seen, in
God. Hurried along by sense and its impulses, the know-
ledge of this Life in God may readily be concealed from
him, and then, however noble may be his nature, he lives in
strife and disunion with himself, in discord and unhappiness,
without true dignity and enjoyment of Life. Only when the
consciousness of the true source of his existence first rises
upon him, and he joyfully resigns himself to it till his be-
ing is steeped in the thought, do peace, joy, and blessedness
flow in upon his soul. And it lies in the Divine Idea that
all men must come to this gladdening consciousness,--that
the outward and aimless Finite Life may thus be pervaded
by the Infinite and so enjoyed; and to this end all who have
been filled with the Divine Idea have laboured and shall
still labour, that this consciousness in its purest possible
form may be spread throughout the race of man.
The modes of activity which we have indicated,--Legis-
lation,--Science (knowledge of nature--power over na-
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? DEFINITION OF THE DIVINE IDEA.
157
ture)--Religion,--are those in which the Divine Idea most
commonly reveals and manifests itself through man in the
world of sense. It is obvious that each of these chief
branches has also its separate parts, in each of which, indi-
vidually, the Idea may be revealed. Add to these the
Knowledge of the Divine Idea,--knowledge that there is
such a Divine Idea, as well as knowledge of its import,
either in whole or in some of its parts,--and further, the
Art or Skill actually to make manifest in the world the
Idea which is thus clearly seen and understood,--both
of which, however,--Knowledge and Art--can be acquired
only through the immediate impulse of the Divine Idea,
-- and then we have the five great modes in which the
Jilea-*eveals itself in man.
That mode of culture by which, in the view of any age, a
man may attain to the possession of this Idea or these
Ideas, we have named the Learned Culture of that age; and
those who, by this culture, do actually attain the desired
possession, we have named the Scholars of the age;--and
from what we have said to-day you will be able more easily
to recognise the truth of our position, to refer back to it the
different branches of knowledge recognised among men, or
to deduce them from it; and thus test our principle by its
applications.
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? 158
LECTURE III.
OF THE PROGRESSIVE SCHOLAR GENERALLY; AND IN
PARTICULAR OF GENIUS AND INDUSTRY.
It is the Divine Idea itself which, by it own inherent power,
creates for itself an independent and personal life in man,
constantly maintains itself in this life, and by means of it
moulds the outward world in its own image. The natural
man cannot, by his own strength, raise himself to the super-
natural; he must be raised thereto by the power of the
supernatural. This self-forming and self-supporting life of
the Idea in man manifests itself as Love;--strictly speaking,
as Love of the Idea for itself; but, in the language of com-
mon appearance, as Love of man for the Idea. This was
set forth in our first lecture.
So it is with Love in general;--and it is not otherwise,
in particular, with the love of the knowledge of the Idea,
which knowledge the Scholar is called upon to acquire.
The love of the Idea absolutely for itself, and particularly
for its essential light, shows itself in those men whom it has
inspired, and of whose being it has fully possessed itself, as
knowledge of the Idea;--in the Finished Scholar, with a well-
defined and perfect clearness,--in the Progressive Scholar,
as a striving towards such a degree of clearness as it can at-
tain under the circumstances in which he is placed. Fol-
lowing out the plan laid down in the opening lecture, we
shall speak, in the first place, of the Progressive Scholar.
The Idea strives, in the first place, to assume a definite
form within him, and to establish for itself a fixed place
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? THE NATURE OF THE SCHOLAR.
159
amid the tide of manifold images which flows in ceaseless
change over his soul. In this effort he is seized with a pre-
sentiment of a truth still unknown to him, of which he has
as yet no clear conception; he feels that every new acqui-
sition which he makes still falls short of the full and per-
fect truth, without being able to state distinctly in what it
is deficient, or how the fullness of knowledge which is to
take its place can be attained or brought about. This ef-
fort of the Idea within him becomes henceforward his essen-
tial life,--the highest and deepest impulse of his being,--
superseding his hitherto sensuous and egoistical impulse,
which was directed only towards the maintenance of his
personal existence and physical well-being,--subjecting this
latter to itself, and thereby for ever extinguishing it as the
one and fundamental impulse of his nature. Actual person-
al want does still, as hitherto, demand its satisfaction; but
that satisfaction does not continue, as it has hitherto con-
tinued, even when its immediate demands have been sup-
plied, to be the engrossing thought, the ever-present object
of contemplation, the motive to all conduct and action of
the thinking being. As the sensuous nature has hitherto
asserted its rights, so does emancipated thought, armed
with new power, in its own strength and without outward
compulsion or ulterior design, return from the strange land
into which it has been led captive, to its own proper home,
and betake itself to the path which leads towards that
much wished-for Unlcnown, whose light streams upon it from
afar. Towards that unknown it is unceasingly attracted;
in meditating upon it, in striving after it, it employs its
best spiritual power.
This impulse towards an obscure, imperfectly-discerned
spiritual object, is commonly named Genius;--and it is so
named on good grounds. It is a supernatural instinct in
man, attracting him to a supernatural object;--thus indica-
ting his relationship to the spiritual world and his original
home in that world. Whether we suppose that this im-
pulse, which, absolutely considered, should prompt to the
pursuit of the Divine Idea in its primitive unity and indivi-
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THE NATURE OF THE SCHOLAR.
sibility, does originally, and at the first appearance of any
individual in the world of sense, so shape itself that this in-
dividual can lay hold of the Idea only at some one particu-
lar point of contact, and only from that point penetrate gra-
dually to the other parts of the spiritual universe;--or
whether we hold that this peculiar point of contact for the
individual is determined during the first development of the
individual power on the manifold materials which surround
it, and always occurs in that material which chance presents
at the precise moment when the power is sufficiently deve-
loped ;--which of these opinions soever we adopt, still, so far
as its outward manifestation is concerned, the impulse
which shows itself in man and urges him onward, will al-
ways exhibit itself as an impulse towards some particular
side of the one indivisible Idea; or, as we may express it,
after the investigations of our last lecture, without fear of
being misunderstood,--as an impulse towards one particu-
lar idea in the sphere of all possible ideas; or if we give to
this impulse the name of Genius, then Genius will always
appear as a specific Genius, for philosophy, poetry, natural
science, legislation, or the like,--never clothed with an abso-
lute character, as Genius in the abstract. According to the
first opinion, this specific Genius possesses its distinguishing
character as an innate peculiarity; according to the second,
it is originally a universal Genius, which is determined to a
particular province only by the accident of culture. The decision of this controversy lies beyond the limits of our
present task.
In whatever way it may be decided, two things are evi-
dent :--in general, the necessity of previous spiritual culture,
and of preliminary instruction in, and acquaintance with,
ideas and knowledge, so that Genius, if present, may dis-
close itself; and, in particular the necessity of bringing
within the reach of every man, ideas of many different
kinds, so that either the inborn specific Genius may come in-
to contact with its appropriate material, or the originally
universal Genius may freely chose one particular object from
among the many. Even in this preliminary spiritual cul-
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? OF THE PROGRESSIVE SCHOLAR.
161
ture, future Genius reveals itself; for its earliest impulse is
directed towards Knowledge only as Knowledge,--merely
for the sake of knowing;--and thus manifests itself solely as
a desire to know.
But even when this impulse has visibly manifested itself
either in the active investigation of some attractive problem
or in happy anticipations of its solution, still persevering in-
dustry, uninterrupted labour, are imperatively requisite.
The question has often been raised, whether Genius or In-
dustry be more essential in science. I answer, both must be
united:--the one is but little worth without the other.
Genius is nothing more than the effort of the Idea to as-
sume a definite form. The Idea, however, has in itself
neither body nor substance, but only shapes for itself an
embodiment out of the scientific materials which environ it
in Time, of which Industry is the sole purveyor. On the
other hand, Industry can do nothing more than provide the
elements of this embodiment;--to unite them organically,
and to breath into them a living spirit, is not the work of
Industry, but belongs only to the Idea revealing itself as
Genius. To impress its image on the surrounding world is
the object for which the living Idea dwelling in the True
Scholar seeks for itself an embodiment. It is to become the
highest life-principle, the innermost soul of the world a-
round it;--it must therefore assume the same forms which
are borne by the surrounding world, establish itself in these
forms as its own proper dwelling-place, and with a free
authority regulate the movements of all their individual
parts according to the natural purposes of each, even as a
healthy man can set in motion his own limbs. As for him
with whom the indwelling Genius proceeds but half-way
in its embodiment, and stops there,--whether it be because
the paths of Learned Culture are inaccessible to him, or be-
cause, from idleness or presumptuous self-conceit, he disdains
to avail himself of them,--between him and his age, and
consequently between him and every possible age and the
whole human race in every point of its progress, an impass-
able gulf is fixed, and the means of mutual influence are cut
Y
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? 1G2
THE NATURE OF THE SCHOLAR.
off. Whatever may now dwell within him,--or, more strict-
ly speaking, whatever he might have acquired in the course
of his progressive culture,--he is unable to explain clearly
either to himself or others, or to make it the deliberate rule
of his actions and thus realize it in the world. He wants
the two necessary elements of the true life of the Idea,--
clearness and freedom. Clearness ;--his fundamental prin-
ciple is not thoroughly transparent to his own mind, he
cannot follow it securely throughout all its modifications,
from its innermost source where it is poured down imme-
diately from the Divinity upon his soul, to all those points
at which it has to manifest and embody itself in the visible
world, and through the different forms which, under different
conditions, it must assume. Freedom; which springs from
clearness, and can never exist without it;--for he cannot
perceive at a glance, and in each phase of reality which pre-
sents itself, the form which the Idea must there assume, and
the proper means to the attainment of that object;--nor has
he those means at his free disposal. He is commonly called
a visionary,--and he is rightly so called. On the contrary, he
in whom the Idea perfectly reveals itself, looks out upon
and thoroughly penetrates all reality by the light of the
Idea. Through the Idea itself he understands all its related
objects,--how they have become what they are, what in
them is complete, what is still awanting, and how the want
must be supplied; and he has, besides, the means of supply-
ing that want completely in his power. The embodiment of
the Idea is then for the first time completed in him, and he
is a matured Scholar;--the point where the Scholar passes
into the free Artist is the point of perfection for the Scho-
lar. Hence it is evident that even when Genius has dis-
closed itself, and visibly becomes a self-forming life of the
Idea, untiring Industry is necessary to its perfect growth.
To show that at the point where the Scholar reaches per-
fection the creative existence of the Artist begins; that this,
too, requires Industry, that it is infinite;--lies not within
our present inquiry; we only allude to it in passing.
But what did I say ? --that even after the manifestation
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? OF THE PROGRESSIVE SCHOLAR.
163
of Genius, Industry is requisite? --as if I would call forth In-
dustry by my prescription, my advice, my demonstration of
its necessity, and thus expected to rouse to exertion those in
whom it is wanting! Bather let us say, that where Genius
is really present, Industry spontaneously appears, grows with
a steady growth, and ceaselessly impels the advancing Scho-
lar towards perfection;--where, on the contrary, Industry
is not to be found, it is not Genius nor the impulse of the
Idea which has shown itself, but, in place of it, only some
mean and unworthy motive.
The Idea is not the ornament of the individual (for,
strictly speaking, there is no such thing as individuality in
the Idea), but it seeks to flow forth in the whole human
race, to animate it with new life, and to mould it after its
own image. This is the distinctive character of the Idea;
and whatever is without this character is not the Idea.
Wherever, therefore, it attains an existence, it irresistibly
strives after this universal activity, not through the life of
the individual, but through its own essential life. It thus
impels every one in whom it has an abode, even against the
will and wish of his sensuous, personal nature, and as
thou^h hejwere a passive instrument,--impels him forward
to this universal activity, to the skill which is demanded in
its exercise, and to the Industry which is necessary for the
acquisition of that skilL Without need of outward incen-
tive, it never ceases from spontaneous activity and self-de-
velopment until it has attained such a living and efficient
form as is possible for it under the conditions by which it is
surrounded. Wherever a man, after having availed himself
of the existing and accessible means for the acquirement of
Learned Culture--(for the second case, where those means
do not exist, or are inaccessible, does not belong to our pre-
sent subject)--wherever, I say, in the first case, a man re-
mains inactive, satisfied with the persuasion that he is in
possession of something resembling the Idea or Genius,--
then in him there is neither Idea or Genius, but only a vain
ostentatious disposition, which assumes a singular and fan-
tastic costume in order to attract notice. Such a disposition
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? 1G4
THE NATURE OF THE SCHOLAR.
shows itself at once in self-gratulatory contemplation of its
own parts and endowments, dwelling on these in compla-
cent indolence, commonly accompanied by contemptuous dis-
paragement of the personal qualities and gifts of others;--
while, on the contrary, he who is constantly urged on by
the Idea has-no time left to think of his own personality;--
lost with all his powers in the object he has in view, he
never weighs his own capacities of grasping it against those
of other men. Genius, where it is present, sees its object only
--never sees itself;--as the sound eye fixes itself upon some-
thing beyond it, but never looks round upon its own bright-
-ness. In such an one the Idea does certainly not abide.
What is it, then, that animates him,--that moves him to
those eager and restless efforts which we behold? It is mere
pride and self-conceit, and the desperate purpose, despite of
natural disqualification, to assume a character which does
not belong to him;--these animate, impel, and spur him on,
and stand to him in the room of Genius. And what is it
which he produces, which appears to the common eye (itself
neither clear nor pure, and in particular incapable of appre-
ciating the sole criteria of all true Ideals--clearness, free-
dom, depth, artistic form) as if it were the Idea ? --what is
it? Either something which he has himself imagined or
which has occurred to him by accident,--which, indeed, he
does not understand, but which he hopes, nevertheless, may
appear new, striking, paradoxical, and therefore blaze forth
far and wide;--with this he commits himself to the chance
of fortune, trusting that in the sequel he himself or some
one else may discover a meaning therein. Or else he has
borrowed it from others,--cunningly distorting, disarrang-
ing, and unsettling it, so that its original form cannot easily
be recognised; and by way of precaution depreciating the
source whence it came, as utterly barren and unprofitable,
lest the unprejudiced observer might be led to inquire
whether he has not possibly obtained from thence that
which he calls his own.
In one word,--self-contemplation, self-admiration, and
self-flattery, although the last may remain unexpressed, and
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? OF THE PROGRESSIVE SCHOLAR.
165
even carefully shrouded from the eye of every beholder,--
these, and the indolence and disdain of the treasures al-
ready gathered together in the storehouses of learning
which spring from these, are sure signs of the absence of
true Genius; whilst forgetfulness of self in the object pur-
sued, entire devotion to that object, and inability to entertain
any thought of self in its presence, are the inseparable accom-
paniments of true Genius. It follows that true Genius in
every stage of its growth, but particularly during its early
development, is marked by amiable modesty and retiring
bashfulness. Genius knows least of all about itself; it is
there, and works and rules with silent power, long before it
comes to consciousness of its own nature. Whoever is con-
stantly looking back upon himself to see how it stands
with him, of what powers he can boast, and who is himself
the first discoverer of these,--in him truly there is nothing
great
.
Should there then be here among you any opening
Genius, far be it from me to wound its native modesty and
diffidence by any general invitation to you to examine
yourselves, and see whether or not you are in possession of
the Idea,--I would much rather earnestly dissuade you
from such self-examination. And that this advice may not
seem to you the suggestion of mere pedantic school-wisdom,
and perhaps of extravagant caution, but may approve itself
to your minds as arising from absolute necessity, I would
add that this question can neither be answered by your-
selves, nor can you obtain any sure answer to it from any
one else;--that therefore truth is not elicited by such a pre-
meditated self-examination, but, on the contrary, the youth
is taught a self-contemplation and conceited brooding over
his own nature, through which the man becomes at length
an intellectual and moral ruin. There are many signs by
which we may know'that the Genius which possibly lies con-
cealed in a Student has not yet declared itself,--and we
shall afterwards find occasion in the sequel to point out the
most remarkable of these;--but there is only one decisive cri-
terion by which we may determine whether Genius has exis-
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? 160
THE NATURE OF THE SCHOLAR.
ted or has never existed in him; and that one decisive cri-
terion can be applied only after the result has become ap-
parent. Whoever has really become a perfect Scholar and
Artist, in the sense in which we have used these words,--
grasping the world in his clear, penetrating Idea, and able
to impress that Idea upon the world at every point -- he
has had Genius, he has been inspired by the Idea; and this
may now confidently be said of him. He who, nothwith-
standing the most diligent study, has come to years of ma-
turity without having raised himself to the Idea--he has
been without Genius, without communion with the Idea;
and this may henceforth be said of him. But of him who
is still upon the way, neither of these judgments can be
pronounced.
This disposition of things, which is as wise as it is neces-
sary, leaves but one course open to the youthful student
who cannot know with certainty whether or not Genius
dwells within him;--this, namely, that he continue to act as
though there were latent within him that which must at
last come to light; that he subject himself to all conditions,
and place himself in all circumstances in which, if present,
it may come to light; that, with untiring Industry and true
devotion of his whole mind, he avail himself of all the
means which Learned Culture offers to him. In the worst
case,--if at the termination of his studies he find that out
of the mass of learning which he has accumulated not one
spark of the Idea has beamed upon him, there yet remains
for him this consciousness at least,--which is more indispen-
sable to man than even Genius itself, and without which the
possesor of the greatest Genius is far less worthy than he,--
the consciousness that if he has not risen higher, no blame
can attach to him,--that the point at which he has stopped
short is the place which God has assigned to him, whose law
he will joyfully obey. No one need pride himself upon
Genius, for it is the free gift of God; but of honest Industry
and true devotion to his destiny any man may well be
proud ;indeed this thorough Integrity of Purpose is itself
the Divine Idea in its most common form, and no really
honest mind is without communion with God.
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? OF THE PROGRESSIVE SCHOLAR.
167
Farther:--the knowledge which he has acquired by
means of this sincere effort after something higher, will ren-
der him always a suitable instrument in the hands of the
more perfect Scholar,--of him who has attained possession
of the Idea. To him he will unhesitatingly submit without
grudge or jealousy,--without any unsatisfied struggle after
an elevation for which he was not formed; his guidance he
will follow with a true loyalty which shall have become to
him a second nature, and thus he will obtain a sure con-
sciousness of having fulfilled his vocation, as the last and
highest destiny to which, in any sphere of life, man can at-
tain.
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? GENERAL PLAN. H3
day enter, until he shall have acquired power sufficient to
stem the tide of its example.
This, gentlemen, is the entire plan of the lectures which I
now propose to deliver, with the principles on which they
shall be founded. To-day, I shall only add one or two ob-
servations to what I have already said.
In considerations like those of to-day, or those, necessarily
similar in their nature, which are to follow, it is common for
men to censure,--first, their severity,--very often with the
good-natured supposition that the speaker was not aware
that his strictness would be disagreeable to them,--that
they have only frankly to tell him this, and he will then re-
consider the matter, and soften down his principles. Thus
we have said, that he who with his Learned Culture has not
attained a knowledge of the Idea, or does not at least
struggle to attain it, is properly speaking, nothing;--and
farther on, we have said he is a bungler. This is in the man-
ner of those severe sayings by which philosophers give so
much offence. Leaving the present case, to deal directly with
the general principle, I have to remind you that a thinker
of this sort, without having firmness enough to refuse all re-
spect to Truth, seeks to chaffer with her and cheapen some-
thing from her, in order by a favourable bargain to obtain
some consideration for himself. But Truth, who is once for
all what she is, and cannot change her nature in aught, pro-
ceeds on her way without turning aside; and there remains
nothing for her, with respect to those who do not seek her
simply because she is true, but to leave them standing
there, just as if they had never accosted her.
Again, it is a common charge against discourses of this
kind, that they cannot be understood. Thus I can suppose
--not you, gentlemen,--but some Finished Scholar according
to appearance, under whose eye, perhaps, these thoughts may
come--approaching them, and, puzzled and doubtful, at last
thoughtfully exclaiming :--The Idea--the Divine Idea,--
that which lies at the bottom of all appearance,--what may
this mean? I would reply to such an inquirer,--What then
may this question mean ? --Strictly speaking, it means in
U
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? 146
THE NATURE OF THE SCHOLAR.
most cases, nothing more than the following:--Under what
other name, and by what other formula, do I already know
this thing which thou expressest by a name so extraordi-
nary, and to me so unheard of? --and to that again, in most
cases, the only fitting answer would be,--Thou knowest not
this thing at all, and during thy whole life hast understood
nothing of it, neither under this nor under any other name;
and if thou art to come to any knowledge of it, thou must
even now begin anew to learn it, and then most fitly under
that name by which it is first offered to thee.
In the following lectures the word Idea, which I have used
to-day, will be in many respects better defined and ex-
plained, and, as I hope, ultimately brought to perfect clear-
ness; but that is by no means the business of a single hour.
We reserve this, as well as everything else to which we have
to direct your attention, for the succeeding lectures.
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? 147
LECTURE II.
CLOSER DEFINITION OP THE MEANING OF
THE DIVINE IDEA.
The following were the principles which we laid down in
our last lecture as the grounds of our investigation into the
Nature of the Scholar.
The Universe is not, in deed and truth, that which it
seems to be to the uncultivated and natural sense of man;
but it is something higher, which lies behind mere natural
appearance. In its widest sense, this foundation of all ap-
pearance may be aptly named the Divine Idea of the world.
A certain part of the meaning of this Divine Idea is acces-
sible to, and conceivable by, the cultivated mind.
We said at the close of last lecture, that this as yet ob-
scure conception of a Divine Idea, as the ultimate and abso-
lute foundation of all appearance, should afterwards become
quite clear and intelligible by means of its subsequent ap-
pli cations.
Nevertheless we find it desirable, in the first place, to de-
fine this conception more closely in the abstract, and to this
purpose we shall devote the present lecture. To'Mthis end
we lay down the following principles, which, so far as we are
concerned, are the results of deep and methodical investiga-
tion and are perfectly demonstrable in themselves, but
which we can here communicate to you only historically, cal-
culating with confidence on your own natural sense of truth
to confirm our principles even without perfect insight into
their fundamental basis; and also on your observing that by
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? H8
THE NATURE OF THE SCHOLAR.
principles thus laid down the most important questions are
answered and the most searching doubts solved.
We lay down, then, the following principles:--
1. Being, strictly and absolutely considered, is living and
essentially active. There is no other Being than Life;--it
cannot be dead, rigid, inert . What death, that constantly
recurring phenomenon, really is, and how it is connected
with the only true Being--with Life,--we shall see more
clearly afterwards.
2. The only Life which exists entirely in itself, from itself,
and by itself, is the Life of God, or of the Absolute;--which
two words mean one and the same thing; so that when we
say the Life of the Absolute, we use only a form of expres-
sion, since in truth the Absolute is Life, and Life is the Ab-
solute.
3. This Divine Life lies entirely hidden in itself;--it has
its residence within itself, and abides there completely
realized in, and accessible only to, itself. It is--all Being,
and beside it there is no Being. It is therefore wholly with-
out change or variation.
4. Now this Divine Life discloses itself, appears, becomes
visible, manifests itself as such--as the Divine Life: and
this its Manifestation, presence, or outward existence, is the
World. Strictly speaking, it manifests itself as it essenti-
ally and really is, and cannot manifest itself otherwise; and
hence there is no groundless and arbitrary medium inter-
posed between its true and essential nature and its outward
Manifestation, in consequence of which it is only in part re-
vealed and in part remains concealed; but its Manifestation,
i. e. the World, is fashioned and unchangeably determined by
two conditions only; namely, by the essential nature of the
Divine Life itself, and by the unvarying and absolute laws of its revelation or Manifestation abstractly considered.
God reveals himself as God can reveal himself: His whole,
in itself essentially inconceivable, Being comes forth entire
and undivided, in so far as it can come forth in any mere
Manifestation.
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? DEFINITION OF THE DIVINE IDEA.
149
5. The Divine Life in itself is absolute self-comprehend-
ing unity, without change or variableness, as we said above.
In its Manifestation, for a reason which is quite conceivable although not here set forth, it becomes a self-developing existence, eternally unfolding itself, and ever advancing to-
wards higher realization in an endless stream of time. In
the first place, it continues in this Manifestation, as we said,
to be life. Life cannot be manifested in death, for these
two are altogether opposed to each other; and hence, as
Absolute Being alone is life, so the only true Manifestation
of that Being is living existence, and death has neither an
absolute, nor, in the highest sense of the word, has it even a
relative existence. This living and visible Manifestation we call the human race. The human race is thus the only true
finite existence. As Being--Absolute Being--constitutes
the Divine Life, and is wholly exhausted therein, so does
Existence in Time, or the Manifestation of that Divine Life,
constitute the whole united life of mankind, and is tho-
roughly and entirely exhausted therein. Thus, in its Mani-
festation the Divine Life becomes a continually progressive
existence, unfolding in perpetual growth according to the
degree of inward activity and power which belongs to it.
Hence,--and the consequence is an important one,--hence
the Manifestation of Life in Time, unlike the Divine Life,
is limited at every point of its existence,--t. e. it is in part
not living, not yet interpenetrated by life, but in so far--
dead. These limitations it shall gradually break through,
lay aside, and transform into life, in its onward progress.
In this view of the limitations which surround Existence
in Time, we have, when it is thoroughly laid hold of, the
conception of the objective and material world, or what we
call Nature. This is not living and capable of infinite
growth like Reason; but dead,--a rigid, self-inclosed exis-
tence. It is this which, arresting and hemming in the
Time-Life, by this hindrance alone spreads over a longer or
shorter period of time that which would otherwise burst
forth at once, a perfect and complete life. Further, in the
development of spiritual existence, Nature itself is gradually
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? 150
THE NATURE OF THE SCHOLAR.
interpenetrated by life; and it is thus both the obstacle to,
and the sphere of, that activity and outward manifestation
of power in which human life eternally unfolds itself.
This, and absolutely nothing more than this, is Nature in
the most extended meaning of the word; and even man
himself, in so far as his existence is limited in comparison
with the original and Divine Life, is nothing more than this.
Since the perpetual advancement of this second life,--not
original, but derived and human,--and also its finitude and
limitation in order that such advancement may be so much
as possible,--both proceed from the self-manifestation of the
Absolute, so Nature also has its foundation in God,--not
indeed as something that is and ought to be for its own
sake alone, but only as the means and condition of another
being,--of the Living Being in man,--and as^something
which shall be gradually and unceasingly superseded and
displaced by the perpetual advancement of this being.
Hence we must not be blinded or led astray by a philo-
sophy assuming the name of natural* which pretends to ex-
cel all former philosophy by striving to elevate Nature into
Absolute Being, and into the place of God In all ages, the
theoretical errors as well as the moral corruptions of hu-
manity have arisen from falsely bestowing the name of life
on that which in itself possesses neither absolute nor even
finite being, and seeking for life and its enjoyment in that
which in itself is dead. Very far therefore from being a
step towards truth, that philosophy is but a return to old
and already most widely spread error.
6. All truth contained in the principles which we have
now laid down may be perceived by man, who himself is the
Manifestation of the Original and Divine Life, in its general
aspect, as we for example, have now perceived it,--either
through rational conviction, or only from being led to it by
an obscure feeling or sense of truth, or from finding it prob-
able because it furnishes a complete solution of the most
important problems. Man may perceive it; that is, the
* Schelling's " Natur-Philosophie" is here referred to.
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? DEFINITION OF THE DIVINE IDEA. . 151
Manifestation may fall back on its Original, and picture it
forth in reflection with absolute certainty as to the fact;
but it can by no means analyze and comprehend it fully, for
the Manifestation ever remains only a Manifestation, and
can never go beyond itself and return to Absolute Being.
7. We have said that man may perceive this in so far as
regards the fact, but he cannot perceive the reason and
origin of the fact. How and why from the Divine Life, this
and no other Time-Life arises and constantly flows forth, can be understood by man only on condition of fully com-
prehending all the parts of this latter, and interpreting
them all, one by the other, mutually and completely, so as to
reduce them once more to a single idea, and that idea equi-
valent to the one Divine Life. But this forth-flowing Time-
TSfe is infinite, and hence the comprehension of its parts
can never be completed: besides, the comprehender is him-
self a portion of it, and at every conceivable point of time
he himself stands chained in the finite and limited, which
he can never entirely throw off without ceasing to be Mani-
festation,--without being himself transformed into the
Divine Life.
8. From this it seems to follow, that the Time-Life can be
comprehended by thought only as a whole, and according to
its general nature,--i. e. as we have endeavoured to compre-
hend it above,--and then as a Manifestation of the one
Original and Divine Life;--but that its details must be im-
mediately felt and experienced in their individual import,
and can only by and through this Experience be imaged
forth in thought and consciousness. And such is actually
the case in a certain respect and with a certain portion of
human life. Throughout all time, and in every individual
part of it, there remains in human life something which i'does not entirely reveal itself in Idea, and which therefore
cannot be anticipated or superseded by any Idea, but which
must be directly felt if it is ever to attain a place in con-
sciousness ;--and this is called the domain of pure empiri-
cism or Experience. The above-mentioned philosophy ens
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? 152
THE NATURE OF THE SCHOLAR.
in this,--that it pretends to have resolved human life en-
tirely into Idea, and thus wholly superseded Experience;
instead of which, it defeats its own purpose, and in attempt-
ing to explain life completely, loses sight of it altogether.
9. I said that such was the case with the Time-Life in a
certain respect and with a certain portion of it. For in
another respect and with another portion of it, the case is
quite otherwise,--and that on the following ground, which I
shall here only indicate in popular phraseology, but which is
well worthy of deeper investigation.
The Time-Life does not enter into Time in individual
parts only, but also in entire homogeneous masses; and it is
these masses, again, which divide themselves into the indivi-
dual parts of actual life. There is not only Time, but there
are times, and succession of times, epoch after epoch, and
age succeeding age. Thus, for example, to the deeper
thought of man, the entire Earthly Life of the human race,
as it now exists, is such a homogeneous mass, projected at
once into Time, and ever present there, whole and undivid-
ed,--only as regards sensuous appearance spread out into
world-history. When these homogeneous masses have ap-
peared in Time, the general laws and rules by which they
are governed may be comprehended, and, in their relation
to the whole course of these masses, anticipated and under-
stood; while the obstacles over which these masses must
take their way--that is, the hindrances and interruptions
of life--are only accessible to immediate Experience.
10. These cognizable laws of homogeneous masses of Life,
which may be perceived and understood prior to their ac-
tual consequences, must necessarily appear as laws of Life
itself, as it ought to be, and as it should strive to become,
founded on the self-supporting and independent principle of
this Time-Life, which must here appear as Freedom:--
hence, as laws for the free action and conduct of the living be-
ing. If we go back to the source of this legislation, we shall
find that it lies in the Divine Life itself, which could not
reveal itself in Time otherwise than under this form of a
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? DEFINITION OP THE DIVINE IDEA.
153
law; and, indeed, as is implied in the preceding ideas, no-
wise as a law ruling with blind power and extorting obedi-
ence by force, such as we assume in passive and inanimate
nature,--but as the law of a Life which is conscious of its
own independence, and cannot be deprived of it, without at
the same time tearing up the very root of its being; hence,
as we said above, as a Divine Law of Freedom, or Moral Law.
Further, as we have already seen, this life according to
the law of the original Divine Life, is the only True Life and
ground of all other;--all things else besides this Life are
but hindrances and obstructions thereto, possessing exist-
ence only that by them the True Life may be unfolded and
manifested in its strength:--hence, all things else have no
existence for their own sakes, but only as means for the de-
velopment of the True Life. Reason can comprehend the
connexion between means and end only by supposing a
mind in which the end has been determined. A thoroughly
moral Human Life has its source in God: by analogy with
our own reason, we conceive of God as proposing to himself
the moral Life of man as the sole purpose for which He has
manifested himself and called into existence every other
thing; not that it is absolutely thus as we conceive of it,
and that God really thinks like man, and that Being itself is
in him distinguished from the conception of Being,--but we
think thus only because we are unable otherwise to com-
prehend the relation between the Divine and the Human
Life. And in this absolutely necessary mode of thought, Human Life as it ought to be becomes the idea and funda-
mental conception of God in the creation of a world,--the
purpose and the plan which God intended to fulfil by the
creation of the world.
And thus it is sufficiently explained for our present pur-
pose how the Divine Idea lies at the foundation of the vis-
ible world, and how, and how far, this Idea, hidden from the
common eye, may become conceivable and attainable by
cultivated thought, and necessarily appear to it as that
which man by his free activity ought to manifest in the
world.
x
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? 154
THE NATURE OF THE SCHOLAR.
Let us not forthwith restrict our conception of this ought,
--this free act of man, to the familiar categorical impera-
tive, and to the narrow and paltry applications of it which
are given in our common systems of Morality,--such ap-
plications as must necessarily be made by such a science.
Almost invariably, and that for causes well founded in the
laws of philosophical abstraction through which systems of
Morality are produced, it has been usual to dwell at great-
est length on the mere^orwj of Morality,--to inculcate sim-
ply and solely obedience to the commandment;--and even
when our moralists have proceeded to its substance, still
their chief aim seems to have been rather to induce men to
cease from doing evil, than to persuade them to do good.
Indeed, in any system of human duties, it is necessary to
maintain such a generality of expression that the rules may
be equally applicable to all men, and for this reason to
point out more clearly what man ought not to do, than
what he ought to do. This, too, is the Divine Idea,--but
only in its remote and borrowed shape--not in its fresh ori-
ginality, original Divine Idea of any particular point
of time remains for the most part unexpressed, until the
God-inspired man appears and declares it. What the
Divine Man does, that is divine. In general, the original
and pure Divine Idea--that which he who is immediately
inspired of God should do and actually does--is (with refer-
ence to the visible world) creative, producing the new, the
unheard-of, the original. The impulse of mere natural exis-
tence leads us to abide in the old, and even when the
Divine Idea is associated with it, it aims at the maintenance
of whatever has hitherto seemed good, or at most to petty
improvements upon it; but where the Divine Idea attains
an existence pure from the admixture of natural impulse,
there it builds new worlds upon the ruins of the old. All
things new, great, and beautiful, which have appeared in the
world since its beginning, and those which shall appear un-
til its end, have appeared and shall appear through the
Divine Idea, partially expressed in the chosen ones of our
race/)
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? DEFINITION OF THE DIVINE IDEA. 155
And thus, as the Life of Man is the only immediate im-
plement and organ of the Divine Idea in the visible world,
so is it also the first and immediate object of its activity.
The progressive Culture of the human race is the object of
the Divine Idea, and of those in whom that Idea dwells.
This last view makes it possible for us to separate the
Divine Idea into its various modes of action, or to conceive
of the one indivisible Idea as several.
First,--In the actual world, the Life of Man, which is in
truth essentially one and indivisble, is divided into the life
of many proximate individuals, each of whom possesses free-
dom and independence. This division of the one Living Existence is an arrangement of nature, and hence is a hin-
drance or obstruction to the True Life,--and exists only in
order that through it, and in conflict with it, that unity of
Life which is demanded by the Divine Idea may freely
fashion itself. Human Life has been divided by nature into
many parts, in order that it may form itself to unity, and
that all the separate individuals who compose it may
through Life itself blend themselves together into oneness
of mind. In the original state of nature, the various wills
of these individuals, and the different powers which they
call into play, mutually oppose and hinder each other.
It
is not so in the Divine Idea, amH^shaJLnQtjjpntinue so in
the visible world. The first interposing power (not found-
~e3in nature, but subsequently introduced into the world
by a new creation) on which this strife of individual powers
must break and expend itself until it shall entirely disap-
pear in a general morality, is the founding of States, and of
just relations between them; in short, all those institutions
by which individual powers, single or united, have each
their proper sphere assigned to them, to which they are confined, but in which at the same time they are secured
against all foreign aggression. This institution lay in the
Divine Idea; it was introduced into the world by inspired
men in their efforts for the realization of the Divine Idea;
by these efforts it will be maintained in the world, and con-
stantly improved until it attain perfection.
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? 156
THE NATURE OF THE SCHOLAR
Secondly,--This Race of Man, thus raising itself through
internal strife to internal unity, is surrounded by an inert
and passive Nature, by which its free life is constantly hin-
dered, threatened, and confined. So it must be, in order that
this Life may attain such unity by its]own free effort; and
thus, according to the Divine Idea, must thisTstrength and
independence of the sensual life, progressively and gradual-
ly unfold itself. To that end it is necessary that the powers
of Nature be subjected to human purpose, and (in order that
this subjection may be possible) that man should be ac-
quainted with the laws by which these powers act, and be
able to calculate beforehand the course of their operations.
Moreover, Nature is not designed merely to be useful and
profitable to man, but also to become his fitting companion,
bearing the impress of his higher dignity, and reflecting it
in radiant characters on every side. This dominion over
Nature lies in the Divine Idea, and is ceaselessly extended
by the power of that Idea through the agency of all in
whom it dwells.
Lastly,--Man is not placed in the world of sense alone,
but the essential root of his being is, as we have seen, in
God. Hurried along by sense and its impulses, the know-
ledge of this Life in God may readily be concealed from
him, and then, however noble may be his nature, he lives in
strife and disunion with himself, in discord and unhappiness,
without true dignity and enjoyment of Life. Only when the
consciousness of the true source of his existence first rises
upon him, and he joyfully resigns himself to it till his be-
ing is steeped in the thought, do peace, joy, and blessedness
flow in upon his soul. And it lies in the Divine Idea that
all men must come to this gladdening consciousness,--that
the outward and aimless Finite Life may thus be pervaded
by the Infinite and so enjoyed; and to this end all who have
been filled with the Divine Idea have laboured and shall
still labour, that this consciousness in its purest possible
form may be spread throughout the race of man.
The modes of activity which we have indicated,--Legis-
lation,--Science (knowledge of nature--power over na-
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? DEFINITION OF THE DIVINE IDEA.
157
ture)--Religion,--are those in which the Divine Idea most
commonly reveals and manifests itself through man in the
world of sense. It is obvious that each of these chief
branches has also its separate parts, in each of which, indi-
vidually, the Idea may be revealed. Add to these the
Knowledge of the Divine Idea,--knowledge that there is
such a Divine Idea, as well as knowledge of its import,
either in whole or in some of its parts,--and further, the
Art or Skill actually to make manifest in the world the
Idea which is thus clearly seen and understood,--both
of which, however,--Knowledge and Art--can be acquired
only through the immediate impulse of the Divine Idea,
-- and then we have the five great modes in which the
Jilea-*eveals itself in man.
That mode of culture by which, in the view of any age, a
man may attain to the possession of this Idea or these
Ideas, we have named the Learned Culture of that age; and
those who, by this culture, do actually attain the desired
possession, we have named the Scholars of the age;--and
from what we have said to-day you will be able more easily
to recognise the truth of our position, to refer back to it the
different branches of knowledge recognised among men, or
to deduce them from it; and thus test our principle by its
applications.
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? 158
LECTURE III.
OF THE PROGRESSIVE SCHOLAR GENERALLY; AND IN
PARTICULAR OF GENIUS AND INDUSTRY.
It is the Divine Idea itself which, by it own inherent power,
creates for itself an independent and personal life in man,
constantly maintains itself in this life, and by means of it
moulds the outward world in its own image. The natural
man cannot, by his own strength, raise himself to the super-
natural; he must be raised thereto by the power of the
supernatural. This self-forming and self-supporting life of
the Idea in man manifests itself as Love;--strictly speaking,
as Love of the Idea for itself; but, in the language of com-
mon appearance, as Love of man for the Idea. This was
set forth in our first lecture.
So it is with Love in general;--and it is not otherwise,
in particular, with the love of the knowledge of the Idea,
which knowledge the Scholar is called upon to acquire.
The love of the Idea absolutely for itself, and particularly
for its essential light, shows itself in those men whom it has
inspired, and of whose being it has fully possessed itself, as
knowledge of the Idea;--in the Finished Scholar, with a well-
defined and perfect clearness,--in the Progressive Scholar,
as a striving towards such a degree of clearness as it can at-
tain under the circumstances in which he is placed. Fol-
lowing out the plan laid down in the opening lecture, we
shall speak, in the first place, of the Progressive Scholar.
The Idea strives, in the first place, to assume a definite
form within him, and to establish for itself a fixed place
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? THE NATURE OF THE SCHOLAR.
159
amid the tide of manifold images which flows in ceaseless
change over his soul. In this effort he is seized with a pre-
sentiment of a truth still unknown to him, of which he has
as yet no clear conception; he feels that every new acqui-
sition which he makes still falls short of the full and per-
fect truth, without being able to state distinctly in what it
is deficient, or how the fullness of knowledge which is to
take its place can be attained or brought about. This ef-
fort of the Idea within him becomes henceforward his essen-
tial life,--the highest and deepest impulse of his being,--
superseding his hitherto sensuous and egoistical impulse,
which was directed only towards the maintenance of his
personal existence and physical well-being,--subjecting this
latter to itself, and thereby for ever extinguishing it as the
one and fundamental impulse of his nature. Actual person-
al want does still, as hitherto, demand its satisfaction; but
that satisfaction does not continue, as it has hitherto con-
tinued, even when its immediate demands have been sup-
plied, to be the engrossing thought, the ever-present object
of contemplation, the motive to all conduct and action of
the thinking being. As the sensuous nature has hitherto
asserted its rights, so does emancipated thought, armed
with new power, in its own strength and without outward
compulsion or ulterior design, return from the strange land
into which it has been led captive, to its own proper home,
and betake itself to the path which leads towards that
much wished-for Unlcnown, whose light streams upon it from
afar. Towards that unknown it is unceasingly attracted;
in meditating upon it, in striving after it, it employs its
best spiritual power.
This impulse towards an obscure, imperfectly-discerned
spiritual object, is commonly named Genius;--and it is so
named on good grounds. It is a supernatural instinct in
man, attracting him to a supernatural object;--thus indica-
ting his relationship to the spiritual world and his original
home in that world. Whether we suppose that this im-
pulse, which, absolutely considered, should prompt to the
pursuit of the Divine Idea in its primitive unity and indivi-
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? 160
THE NATURE OF THE SCHOLAR.
sibility, does originally, and at the first appearance of any
individual in the world of sense, so shape itself that this in-
dividual can lay hold of the Idea only at some one particu-
lar point of contact, and only from that point penetrate gra-
dually to the other parts of the spiritual universe;--or
whether we hold that this peculiar point of contact for the
individual is determined during the first development of the
individual power on the manifold materials which surround
it, and always occurs in that material which chance presents
at the precise moment when the power is sufficiently deve-
loped ;--which of these opinions soever we adopt, still, so far
as its outward manifestation is concerned, the impulse
which shows itself in man and urges him onward, will al-
ways exhibit itself as an impulse towards some particular
side of the one indivisible Idea; or, as we may express it,
after the investigations of our last lecture, without fear of
being misunderstood,--as an impulse towards one particu-
lar idea in the sphere of all possible ideas; or if we give to
this impulse the name of Genius, then Genius will always
appear as a specific Genius, for philosophy, poetry, natural
science, legislation, or the like,--never clothed with an abso-
lute character, as Genius in the abstract. According to the
first opinion, this specific Genius possesses its distinguishing
character as an innate peculiarity; according to the second,
it is originally a universal Genius, which is determined to a
particular province only by the accident of culture. The decision of this controversy lies beyond the limits of our
present task.
In whatever way it may be decided, two things are evi-
dent :--in general, the necessity of previous spiritual culture,
and of preliminary instruction in, and acquaintance with,
ideas and knowledge, so that Genius, if present, may dis-
close itself; and, in particular the necessity of bringing
within the reach of every man, ideas of many different
kinds, so that either the inborn specific Genius may come in-
to contact with its appropriate material, or the originally
universal Genius may freely chose one particular object from
among the many. Even in this preliminary spiritual cul-
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? OF THE PROGRESSIVE SCHOLAR.
161
ture, future Genius reveals itself; for its earliest impulse is
directed towards Knowledge only as Knowledge,--merely
for the sake of knowing;--and thus manifests itself solely as
a desire to know.
But even when this impulse has visibly manifested itself
either in the active investigation of some attractive problem
or in happy anticipations of its solution, still persevering in-
dustry, uninterrupted labour, are imperatively requisite.
The question has often been raised, whether Genius or In-
dustry be more essential in science. I answer, both must be
united:--the one is but little worth without the other.
Genius is nothing more than the effort of the Idea to as-
sume a definite form. The Idea, however, has in itself
neither body nor substance, but only shapes for itself an
embodiment out of the scientific materials which environ it
in Time, of which Industry is the sole purveyor. On the
other hand, Industry can do nothing more than provide the
elements of this embodiment;--to unite them organically,
and to breath into them a living spirit, is not the work of
Industry, but belongs only to the Idea revealing itself as
Genius. To impress its image on the surrounding world is
the object for which the living Idea dwelling in the True
Scholar seeks for itself an embodiment. It is to become the
highest life-principle, the innermost soul of the world a-
round it;--it must therefore assume the same forms which
are borne by the surrounding world, establish itself in these
forms as its own proper dwelling-place, and with a free
authority regulate the movements of all their individual
parts according to the natural purposes of each, even as a
healthy man can set in motion his own limbs. As for him
with whom the indwelling Genius proceeds but half-way
in its embodiment, and stops there,--whether it be because
the paths of Learned Culture are inaccessible to him, or be-
cause, from idleness or presumptuous self-conceit, he disdains
to avail himself of them,--between him and his age, and
consequently between him and every possible age and the
whole human race in every point of its progress, an impass-
able gulf is fixed, and the means of mutual influence are cut
Y
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? 1G2
THE NATURE OF THE SCHOLAR.
off. Whatever may now dwell within him,--or, more strict-
ly speaking, whatever he might have acquired in the course
of his progressive culture,--he is unable to explain clearly
either to himself or others, or to make it the deliberate rule
of his actions and thus realize it in the world. He wants
the two necessary elements of the true life of the Idea,--
clearness and freedom. Clearness ;--his fundamental prin-
ciple is not thoroughly transparent to his own mind, he
cannot follow it securely throughout all its modifications,
from its innermost source where it is poured down imme-
diately from the Divinity upon his soul, to all those points
at which it has to manifest and embody itself in the visible
world, and through the different forms which, under different
conditions, it must assume. Freedom; which springs from
clearness, and can never exist without it;--for he cannot
perceive at a glance, and in each phase of reality which pre-
sents itself, the form which the Idea must there assume, and
the proper means to the attainment of that object;--nor has
he those means at his free disposal. He is commonly called
a visionary,--and he is rightly so called. On the contrary, he
in whom the Idea perfectly reveals itself, looks out upon
and thoroughly penetrates all reality by the light of the
Idea. Through the Idea itself he understands all its related
objects,--how they have become what they are, what in
them is complete, what is still awanting, and how the want
must be supplied; and he has, besides, the means of supply-
ing that want completely in his power. The embodiment of
the Idea is then for the first time completed in him, and he
is a matured Scholar;--the point where the Scholar passes
into the free Artist is the point of perfection for the Scho-
lar. Hence it is evident that even when Genius has dis-
closed itself, and visibly becomes a self-forming life of the
Idea, untiring Industry is necessary to its perfect growth.
To show that at the point where the Scholar reaches per-
fection the creative existence of the Artist begins; that this,
too, requires Industry, that it is infinite;--lies not within
our present inquiry; we only allude to it in passing.
But what did I say ? --that even after the manifestation
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? OF THE PROGRESSIVE SCHOLAR.
163
of Genius, Industry is requisite? --as if I would call forth In-
dustry by my prescription, my advice, my demonstration of
its necessity, and thus expected to rouse to exertion those in
whom it is wanting! Bather let us say, that where Genius
is really present, Industry spontaneously appears, grows with
a steady growth, and ceaselessly impels the advancing Scho-
lar towards perfection;--where, on the contrary, Industry
is not to be found, it is not Genius nor the impulse of the
Idea which has shown itself, but, in place of it, only some
mean and unworthy motive.
The Idea is not the ornament of the individual (for,
strictly speaking, there is no such thing as individuality in
the Idea), but it seeks to flow forth in the whole human
race, to animate it with new life, and to mould it after its
own image. This is the distinctive character of the Idea;
and whatever is without this character is not the Idea.
Wherever, therefore, it attains an existence, it irresistibly
strives after this universal activity, not through the life of
the individual, but through its own essential life. It thus
impels every one in whom it has an abode, even against the
will and wish of his sensuous, personal nature, and as
thou^h hejwere a passive instrument,--impels him forward
to this universal activity, to the skill which is demanded in
its exercise, and to the Industry which is necessary for the
acquisition of that skilL Without need of outward incen-
tive, it never ceases from spontaneous activity and self-de-
velopment until it has attained such a living and efficient
form as is possible for it under the conditions by which it is
surrounded. Wherever a man, after having availed himself
of the existing and accessible means for the acquirement of
Learned Culture--(for the second case, where those means
do not exist, or are inaccessible, does not belong to our pre-
sent subject)--wherever, I say, in the first case, a man re-
mains inactive, satisfied with the persuasion that he is in
possession of something resembling the Idea or Genius,--
then in him there is neither Idea or Genius, but only a vain
ostentatious disposition, which assumes a singular and fan-
tastic costume in order to attract notice. Such a disposition
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? 1G4
THE NATURE OF THE SCHOLAR.
shows itself at once in self-gratulatory contemplation of its
own parts and endowments, dwelling on these in compla-
cent indolence, commonly accompanied by contemptuous dis-
paragement of the personal qualities and gifts of others;--
while, on the contrary, he who is constantly urged on by
the Idea has-no time left to think of his own personality;--
lost with all his powers in the object he has in view, he
never weighs his own capacities of grasping it against those
of other men. Genius, where it is present, sees its object only
--never sees itself;--as the sound eye fixes itself upon some-
thing beyond it, but never looks round upon its own bright-
-ness. In such an one the Idea does certainly not abide.
What is it, then, that animates him,--that moves him to
those eager and restless efforts which we behold? It is mere
pride and self-conceit, and the desperate purpose, despite of
natural disqualification, to assume a character which does
not belong to him;--these animate, impel, and spur him on,
and stand to him in the room of Genius. And what is it
which he produces, which appears to the common eye (itself
neither clear nor pure, and in particular incapable of appre-
ciating the sole criteria of all true Ideals--clearness, free-
dom, depth, artistic form) as if it were the Idea ? --what is
it? Either something which he has himself imagined or
which has occurred to him by accident,--which, indeed, he
does not understand, but which he hopes, nevertheless, may
appear new, striking, paradoxical, and therefore blaze forth
far and wide;--with this he commits himself to the chance
of fortune, trusting that in the sequel he himself or some
one else may discover a meaning therein. Or else he has
borrowed it from others,--cunningly distorting, disarrang-
ing, and unsettling it, so that its original form cannot easily
be recognised; and by way of precaution depreciating the
source whence it came, as utterly barren and unprofitable,
lest the unprejudiced observer might be led to inquire
whether he has not possibly obtained from thence that
which he calls his own.
In one word,--self-contemplation, self-admiration, and
self-flattery, although the last may remain unexpressed, and
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? OF THE PROGRESSIVE SCHOLAR.
165
even carefully shrouded from the eye of every beholder,--
these, and the indolence and disdain of the treasures al-
ready gathered together in the storehouses of learning
which spring from these, are sure signs of the absence of
true Genius; whilst forgetfulness of self in the object pur-
sued, entire devotion to that object, and inability to entertain
any thought of self in its presence, are the inseparable accom-
paniments of true Genius. It follows that true Genius in
every stage of its growth, but particularly during its early
development, is marked by amiable modesty and retiring
bashfulness. Genius knows least of all about itself; it is
there, and works and rules with silent power, long before it
comes to consciousness of its own nature. Whoever is con-
stantly looking back upon himself to see how it stands
with him, of what powers he can boast, and who is himself
the first discoverer of these,--in him truly there is nothing
great
.
Should there then be here among you any opening
Genius, far be it from me to wound its native modesty and
diffidence by any general invitation to you to examine
yourselves, and see whether or not you are in possession of
the Idea,--I would much rather earnestly dissuade you
from such self-examination. And that this advice may not
seem to you the suggestion of mere pedantic school-wisdom,
and perhaps of extravagant caution, but may approve itself
to your minds as arising from absolute necessity, I would
add that this question can neither be answered by your-
selves, nor can you obtain any sure answer to it from any
one else;--that therefore truth is not elicited by such a pre-
meditated self-examination, but, on the contrary, the youth
is taught a self-contemplation and conceited brooding over
his own nature, through which the man becomes at length
an intellectual and moral ruin. There are many signs by
which we may know'that the Genius which possibly lies con-
cealed in a Student has not yet declared itself,--and we
shall afterwards find occasion in the sequel to point out the
most remarkable of these;--but there is only one decisive cri-
terion by which we may determine whether Genius has exis-
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? 160
THE NATURE OF THE SCHOLAR.
ted or has never existed in him; and that one decisive cri-
terion can be applied only after the result has become ap-
parent. Whoever has really become a perfect Scholar and
Artist, in the sense in which we have used these words,--
grasping the world in his clear, penetrating Idea, and able
to impress that Idea upon the world at every point -- he
has had Genius, he has been inspired by the Idea; and this
may now confidently be said of him. He who, nothwith-
standing the most diligent study, has come to years of ma-
turity without having raised himself to the Idea--he has
been without Genius, without communion with the Idea;
and this may henceforth be said of him. But of him who
is still upon the way, neither of these judgments can be
pronounced.
This disposition of things, which is as wise as it is neces-
sary, leaves but one course open to the youthful student
who cannot know with certainty whether or not Genius
dwells within him;--this, namely, that he continue to act as
though there were latent within him that which must at
last come to light; that he subject himself to all conditions,
and place himself in all circumstances in which, if present,
it may come to light; that, with untiring Industry and true
devotion of his whole mind, he avail himself of all the
means which Learned Culture offers to him. In the worst
case,--if at the termination of his studies he find that out
of the mass of learning which he has accumulated not one
spark of the Idea has beamed upon him, there yet remains
for him this consciousness at least,--which is more indispen-
sable to man than even Genius itself, and without which the
possesor of the greatest Genius is far less worthy than he,--
the consciousness that if he has not risen higher, no blame
can attach to him,--that the point at which he has stopped
short is the place which God has assigned to him, whose law
he will joyfully obey. No one need pride himself upon
Genius, for it is the free gift of God; but of honest Industry
and true devotion to his destiny any man may well be
proud ;indeed this thorough Integrity of Purpose is itself
the Divine Idea in its most common form, and no really
honest mind is without communion with God.
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? OF THE PROGRESSIVE SCHOLAR.
167
Farther:--the knowledge which he has acquired by
means of this sincere effort after something higher, will ren-
der him always a suitable instrument in the hands of the
more perfect Scholar,--of him who has attained possession
of the Idea. To him he will unhesitatingly submit without
grudge or jealousy,--without any unsatisfied struggle after
an elevation for which he was not formed; his guidance he
will follow with a true loyalty which shall have become to
him a second nature, and thus he will obtain a sure con-
sciousness of having fulfilled his vocation, as the last and
highest destiny to which, in any sphere of life, man can at-
tain.
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